Early measurement report

Abstract

A method of operating a wireless communication device (102) includes performing a channel measurement of a wireless link (111) between the wireless communication device (102) and a network node (101) of a communication network (90). The method also includes transmitting, as part of a random access procedure (6000) for accessing the communication network (90), an uplink message (6003) to the network node (101), the uplink message (6003) carrying a measurement report (160) of the channel measurement. The method also includes providing, to the network node (101), an indication (190) related to whether the uplink message (6003) carries the measurement report (160).

1 . A method of operating a wireless communication device, the method comprising:
 performing a channel measurement of a wireless link between the wireless communication device and a network node of a communication network,   transmitting, as part of a random access procedure for accessing the communication network, an uplink message to the network node, the uplink message carrying a measurement report of the channel measurement, and   providing, to the network node, an indication related to whether the uplink message carries the measurement report.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 ,
 wherein the indication comprises implementing a predefined structure of a transport block associated with the uplink message.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 ,
 wherein the transport block structure comprises at least one of a size of the transport block and a partitioning of the transport block.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 ,
 wherein the indication comprises partitioning of a set of random access preambles or random access preamble resources of the random access procedure.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 ,
 wherein the indication comprises Layer  3  uplink control signaling from the wireless communication device and to the communication network prior to commencing the random access procedure.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 ,
 wherein the uplink message selectively carries the measurement report depending on a trigger criterion.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 ,
 wherein the trigger criterion comprises a measurement request received from the communication network.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 ,
 wherein the measurement request is received prior to commencing the random access procedure.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 7 ,
 wherein the measurement request is received in a downlink message of the random access procedure, the downlink message being received by the wireless communication device prior to transmitting the uplink message.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 ,
 wherein the channel measurement is performed in response to receiving the downlink message carrying the measurement request.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 6 ,
 wherein the trigger criterion comprises a result of the channel measurement fulfilling a predefined criterion.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 6 , further comprising:
 depending on whether the uplink message carries the measurement report, setting a time gap between a downlink message of the random access procedure and the uplink message.   
     
     
         13 . (canceled) 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1 ,
 wherein the uplink message further carries uplink data,   wherein the measurement report is punctured into the uplink data or attached to the uplink data.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 1 ,
 wherein the uplink message further carries uplink data,   wherein the method further comprises:
 selecting, from a predefined table, a transport block size based on the uplink data, and 
 allocating a fraction of the transport block to the measurement report and a further fraction of the transport block to the uplink data. 
   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 1 ,
 wherein the channel measurement is performed in a narrowband of the wireless link defined as a fraction of a channel bandwidth of the wireless link.   
     
     
         17 - 18 . (canceled) 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving multiple repetitions of a downlink message of the random access procedure, and   prior to completing said receiving of the multiple repetitions: performing an early decoding attempt,   wherein the channel measurement is performed based on a result of the early decoding attempt.   
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 1 ,
 wherein the measurement report comprises at least one of a Reference Signals Received Power, RSRP, a Reference Signals Received Quality, RSRQ, a Channel Quality Indication, CQI, and a number of Coverage Enhancement repetitions.   
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 1 ,
 wherein the indication is indicative of whether the wireless communication device is capable of transmitting the uplink message carrying the measurement report.   
     
     
         22 . A method of operating a network node of a communication network, the method comprising:
 receiving, as part of a random access procedure of a wireless communication device accessing the communication network, an uplink message from the wireless communication device, the uplink message carrying a measurement report of a channel measurement of the wireless link performed by the wireless communication device,   obtaining, from the wireless communication device, an indication related to whether the uplink message carries the measurement report, and   processing the uplink message in accordance with the indication.   
     
     
         23 . (canceled) 
     
     
         24 . A wireless communication device configured to:
 perform a channel measurement of a wireless link between the wireless communication device and a network node of a communication network,   transmit, as part of a random access procedure for accessing the communication network, an uplink message to the network node, the uplink message carrying a measurement report of the channel measurement, and   provide, to the network node, an indication related to whether the uplink message carries the measurement report.   
     
     
         25 - 28 . (canceled)